Master Serbian accusative pronouns by comparing full forms used for emphasis with short clitic forms used in neutral sentences.

Personal Pronouns in Accusative

In the previous post you could see the different forms of pronouns in the accusative case in Serbian:

There are quite a lot of verbs which require the Accusative, and "voleti" or "to love" obviously requires a direct object. Therefore you'll come across this form in many a song:

The same goes for the verb ZVATI. Since we are going to practise Serbian with two songs with this verb, let's start with a bit of theory:


and then let's practice with a game:
If you like these Quizlet exercises, here's one more with the verbs to see and to go to (Videti i Ići u + Akuzativ)

Finally, when you feel confident using the pronouns in Accusative, let's sing the following songs in 
Zovem ______  zovem, a ti tako 
nećeš da čuješ zov iz duše
zovem ______  zovem ko zna gde si
dok moji snovi već se ruše

Ref. 2x
Zovem ______  zovem, noću te sanjam
uzalud širim ruke svoje
zovem ______  zovem, al' čemu sve to
ti drugu ljubiš oko moje

Zovem______ zovem, a ti tako 
ni pismom jednim da se javiš
zovem ______  zovem noći svake
a ti ne čuješ ili se praviš

Ref. 2x

Zovem ______  zovem, gde si mili
traže ______  moje vlažne oči
zovem ______  zovem srećni bi bili
javi mi dal' ćeš nekad doći

Ref. 2x

Poći ću u šume da ____ opet tražim
uz tišinu rijeke da ___  mirno sanjam
i dok mesec sija gledaću u zvijezde
ne bih li ___ sreo sretnu i daleku
aha, aha, aha

Zvao sam ___ Emili
u moj je san ko u svoj ušla dom
zbog nje se dan pretvorio u noć 
i pjesme sve poludjele zbog nje 
kao kiše prolećne

Zvao sam ____ Emili
u danima kad voljesmo se mi
od proljeća do kasne jeseni
zbog nje, zbog nje izgubio sam sve
čak i dobre drugove

Zvao sam ____  Emili

Long and short pronoun forms, and when to use each

Full forms such as mene, tebe and njega can carry contrast and appear after prepositions. Short forms me, te, ga, je, nas, vas and ih are unstressed and normally stand in the clitic cluster near the beginning of a clause. The feminine short form je is far more common than ju, although ju can prevent repetition next to the auxiliary je. Practise the position together with the form.

Serbian gives you two accusative forms for most pronouns: the short unstressed one and the long emphatic one. Ona me poznaje is neutral; Ona mene poznaje, ali njega ne poznaje puts the weight on who exactly is known. Use the short form by default and reach for the long one only when you are contrasting or emphasising.

Accusative pronouns in Latin and Cyrillic

Latin scriptCyrillic scriptEnglish
Ona mene poznaje, ali njega ne poznaje.Она мене познаје, али њега не познаје.She knows me, but she does not know him.
Da li me čuješ?Да ли ме чујеш?Can you hear me?
Vidim je svakog dana.Видим је сваког дана.I see her every day.
Pozvali smo ih na ručak.Позвали смо их на ручак.We invited them to lunch.
Čekaju nas ispred bioskopa.Чекају нас испред биоскопа.They are waiting for us in front of the cinema.

The short forms are clitics — they cannot start a sentence and cannot stand alone. Ask Koga vidiš? and the one-word answer has to be Njega, never Ga. Read the Cyrillic column and watch the position of these small words, since position is what distinguishes correct Serbian from merely understandable Serbian.

Switching between the forms

Take each sentence and say it twice: once with the short form, once with the long one, and notice what changes in meaning. Then build a contrast of your own — two people, one known, one not — and say it aloud. Contrast is the natural home of the long form, and using it there fixes the distinction.

Accusative pronoun exercise

Translate these sentences into Serbian in both scripts, choosing the short or long form deliberately and noting your reason.

  1. She knows me, but she does not know him.
  2. Can you hear me?
  3. I see her every day.
  4. We invited them to lunch.
  5. They are waiting for us in front of the cinema.

Answers

  1. Ona mene poznaje, ali njega ne poznaje.
    Она мене познаје, али њега не познаје.
  2. Da li me čuješ?
    Да ли ме чујеш?
  3. Vidim je svakog dana.
    Видим је сваког дана.
  4. Pozvali smo ih na ručak.
    Позвали смо их на ручак.
  5. Čekaju nas ispred bioskopa.
    Чекају нас испред биоскопа.